Ida Bakken

Did you ever wake up and try to remember a dream...?  

It seems to disappear the more and more you try to remember it, and the more you come to, and shift from the subconscious to reality and daily life. 

In the painting Ida Bakken, Anne-Karin Furunes compares the experience of viewing the artwork to what you might experience after dreaming. 

We look directly at the face of a young woman...  

Who is she?  

The portrait isn’t of a famous person, and her presence isn’t intrusive. 

It changes as you move closer or further away from the painting.  

The further back you are, the clearer it is.  

However, the closer you get, you almost won't be able to distinguish if there is a person present in the image! 

Furunes´s artworks are based on photographs, often portraits.  

She occasionally finds photos in old archives, or sometimes collaborates with photographers who take photos for her – such as this work where Vegard Moen was enlisted to work with her.  

Furunes experiments with fleeting moments and where the audience is in relation to the image and how that shapes the experience. The closer you get to the work, the more the motif dissolves.  

This work is part of a series where Furunes wanted to work with portraits of people who do not pose but are absorbed by themselves.